Valse de Melody - Serge Gainsbourg (1971)
Joseph and Olia Ginsburg left Russia in 1919 to live in Paris, in order to escape Bolshevism. Joseph is a cabaret pianist and Olia is a singer. They have a first son who dies at an early age of a disease. Then they have a daughter: Jacqueline, in 1926; and finally, fraternal twins: Liliane and Lucien, in 1928.
War years were very hard for Lucien as he is forced to wear the yellow star of the jews. The whole family left Paris and went to hide in the countryside under a fake name. After the war, when the family returned to Paris, Lucien has very bad results at school, and quickly give up.
He spend some years in the Beaux-Arts school, and give up. Then, he lives of small jobs like drawing or singing teacher, and give up.
He become a piano-bar crooner singing in many casinos in Normandie, and in Paris. The revelation comes when he hear the singer Boris Vian and his cynical, provocative, and funny texts. He sold only 1500 units of his first solo album “gainsbourg Confidentiel”. He then decided: “Je vais me lancer dans l’alimentaire et m’acheter une Rolls”.
After many years of success, he goes from Serge Gainsbourg to Gainsbarre. Night clubs, alcohol and night life starts killing him. He become the, drunk and not shaved, cursed poet that we all remember.
The epic story of Gainsbourg ends on March 2nd, 1991 after his fifth heart attack.
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Serge Gainsbourg Official Website
Serge Gainsbourg Un-Official Website
Further information on Wikipedia [en]
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Je Ne Veux Pas Mourir - Mendelson (1997)
Death is probably the thing which haunts the most artists who assume their spleen. Some singers use metaphors, but on his first album, french duet Mendelson treats this subject frankly.
Released on Lithium (the label which discovered Dominique A), famous for his jansenist aesthetic (productions of the label were often sad and slow), and itself closed, “Je ne veux pas mourir” describes a nocturnal anxiety : dying.
The narrator exposes all the reasons he has not to die : he is young, in good health. So why is he so anxious ? Probably to create the lyrics of a very slow and dark-spirited french song.
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Mendelson Website
Mendelson Myspace
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La Ville S’Endormait - Jacques Brel (1977)
Jacques Brel was born in the district of Brussels, at Schaarbeek, on April 8, 1929. He is not interested in school, so his father gives him a job in the family’s Cardboard factory. Finding no more interest in the cardboard than in school, he thinks about taking a fresh start, in singing or in breeding chickens.
1954: he left alone Brussels to move to Paris, leaving behind him his wife and two daughters. His family doesn’t support him and stops giving him money, he then lives under the roof of the hotel Stevens, Pigalle.
1966: he decided to leave everything and to stop singing. He gave his last recital on May 16, 1967, in Roubaix.
1974: already suffering from lung cancer, he left Paris and his family. He left on a boat to the Marquesas with Madly Bamy. He works there as a taxi-plane between Tahiti and the Marquesas.
1977: he was back in France, despite the progression of his cancer. He decided to record a new album which is released under the simple name: Brel. He finished the album, as well as his career, by the song Les Marquises, which was recorded in one take and which ends as follows: “Veux-tu que je te dise / GĂ©mir n’est pas de mise / Aux Marquises”.
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Further information on Wikipedia [en]
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Le Danseur - Arthur H (2005)
On March 27, 1966 in Paris, Arthur H was born. His real name is Arthur Higelin, he is none other than the son of Jacques Higelin. He was a very lonely teenager and was hardly passionate for education.
He released his first album: Arthur H, at the age of 24 years. His influences are numerous and range from Thelonious Monk to Tom Waits through the Sex Pistols or even the jazz, blues or tango. Based on these inspirations, Arthur H has been able to create a unique musical universe.
The album Adieu Tristesse, on which you can find Le Danseur, was released in 2005. Some consider this album as the most accessible of his career. It allowed him to win a great success and receive a Victoire De La Musique for the videoclip of the song “Est-Ce Que Tu Aimes ?”.
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